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·The Food Industry·

Olive Garden's breadsticks are near the top of the list of addictive and utterly soul-fulfilling foods. If you've never had the pleasure of eating one of these, run and do not walk to your nearest branch (and then come back and finish reading this article). As a friend and I were procrastinating on our homework the other day by raving about how euphoric this carbohydrate-loaded experience is, we came to a bit of an impasse. Everybody knows how good they are -- but why?

I’m home! After having the pleasure of spending the latter half of 2017 in the wonderful country of Australia, I’ve had a few weeks to re-adjust to life in this hemisphere and reflect on my time abroad. Don’t get me wrong -- I definitely missed some parts of home (pumpkin pie, anybody?). However, the Aussies were onto something in more ways than one, and we could certainly learn a thing or two from our Pacific ally when it comes to their general attitude towards food.

Last week we talked about Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch® and how they advocate for sustainable fisheries around the world. Sustainably-sourced seafood hinges on the idea of conserving fish populations to ensure a future food source for generations to come, but few have researched this in the context of the global population growth expected by 2050. Do we have enough fish left to feed the planet? Or is this a lost cause?

If you’ve ever had the chance to visit the beautiful Monterey Bay Aquarium, consider yourself lucky (it’s truly stunning). In 1999, the Monterey Bay Aquarium launched its Seafood Watch® Program, designed to help consumers choose seafood that has been caught or raised in a sustainable way. According to their website, they’ve distributed over 57 million consumer guides and enjoyed over 1.8 million downloads of their mobile app. But what does “sustainable seafood” actually mean? And what differentiates a fish that is farmed or caught “sustainably” from one that isn’t?

Red meat is often cast as the villain in many modern-day nutritional guidelines. Especially with vegan and plant-based diets on the rise, the decision to consume or avoid red meat has become a contentious one. What are the reasons to stay away from red meat, and are they enough to ban it entirely? Or do these reasons have some important caveats that need to be addressed?